1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to an air bag apparatus which operates to inflate a bag body at the time of sudden deceleration of a vehicle, and to a method of removing an inflator provided in the air bag apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, air bag apparatuses are known as occupant protecting apparatuses. Such an air bag apparatus is adapted to detect a state of sudden deceleration of a vehicle by a sensor and inflate a bag body so as to protect an occupant at the time of sudden deceleration of the vehicle.
Namely, at the time of sudden deceleration of the vehicle, a sensor of an inflator which is contained in the air bag apparatus detects this state of sudden deceleration. When this sensor causes a detonator to ignite so that a gas generating material combusts, the generated gas is fed from the inflator into the bag body and the bag body inflates.
On the other hand, when the vehicle is scrapped, it is necessary to discard an air bag apparatus which has not been operated. In this case, after the inflator is removed from the air bag apparatus and is forcibly actuated, it is necessary to chemically treat cinders or the like to make them harmless. Therefore, it is preferable that the inflator be easily removed.
Further, in order to recycle parts other than the inflator, which are formed from steel plates, resins and the like, the inflator is desirably assembled in such a manner as to be easily removed from the air bag apparatus.
However, in many cases, the inflator is attached to the air bag apparatus by being fastened by bolts and nuts which are both painted for fixing, so that the inflator might not be removed intentionally for purposes other than disposal or might not be loosened due to vibrations or the like. For this reason, there exists a drawback in that a great deal of time and labor are required to remove the inflator from the air bag apparatus.